Crossroads
Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6:16
The Crossroads Initiative
Crossroads is an initiative of Together for the Common Good, focused on discerning the future of Christian social action.
Our current context
We are living through a time of unravelling. We see community cohesion giving way to polarisation. The liberal consensus that shaped our political, social and economic life for decades has failed. The tensions around mismanaged immigration, the cost of living, unaffordable housing, job insecurity, and growing destitution reveal how ordinary people have been let down by both market and state.
The state of UK social action
Over the past few decades, Christian social action has evolved, with a significant increase in debt advice, night shelters and food banks addressing many symptoms of poverty. Yet the growth of these crisis responses is not something to celebrate. Despite the heroic efforts, demand has risen and poverty has deepened. The coming years look likely to be even more difficult.
Our social witness stands at a crossroads. What direction will we take? This is no time for complacency. We must grapple with serious questions: about the underlying causes of poverty, the purpose of charitable work and the reality of mission drift.
THE THREE SINS OF SOCIAL ACTION
We have identified three “sins” of social action which need to be addressed:
1. The disconnect between charity and justice.
Much social action operates downstream from the forces that create poverty. While relief is vital, being “useful” while propping up a broken system is no longer credible. Rather than just calling for increases in welfare benefits, we must demand a form of social justice which addresses the drivers of inequality.
2. Dependency – the disconnect with empowerment.
While well-meaning, service-provision models can unintentionally generate dependency, rendering recipients passive rather than empowered with agency.
3. Secularisation – the disconnect with faith
Christian distinctiveness has suffered mission drift – through fear of losing funding, fossilised through neglect, or the fading of faith - becoming no different from an NGO.
Our problem statement: Christian social action has increasingly adopted a service provider approach which can alienate those it seeks to help, turning neighbours into recipients. This mission drift has sidelined economic justice, fostered dependency, and weakened the distinctively relational witness Christ intended.
The change we want to see: Christian social action should be relational and reciprocal: empowering people to stand on their own two feet, building communities of solidarity thriving on the dignity of work rather than surviving on welfare. Our social action must be distinctive and be rooted in the Biblical call to ‘act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).
Background
In 2024, Together for the Common Good commissioned Jon Kuhrt’s lecture Grace, Truth and the Common Good: the Future of Christian Social Action. The response of key leaders to this lecture and subsequent events has prompted T4CG to explore these themes further This included a discernment retreat of 36 key leaders in November 2024, which produced this report.
Now
We now have funding for a feasibility project to discern ways to take this forward. This initiative is led by Jenny Sinclair (Founder/Director, T4CG), Rachel Arnold (formerly Head of Church Engagement, Christians Against Poverty) and Jon Kuhrt (CEO, Hope into Action).
What we will do
We have explored possible vehicles that could shape the form of the project, such as booklets, roundtable discussions and retreats, videos and other calls to action. However these ideas and themes need testing with key stakeholders and we are keen to consult as widely as possible with key leaders and practitioners across the churches.
If you’d like to stay in touch about this work on the future of Christian Social Action, please register your email HERE